


All Things Come to Those Who Are Patient

by lone_lilly



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-21
Updated: 2011-08-21
Packaged: 2017-10-22 22:27:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/243260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lone_lilly/pseuds/lone_lilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Scully decides to finally go after the life she wants.</p>
    </blockquote>





	All Things Come to Those Who Are Patient

**Author's Note:**

> Scully decides to finally go after the life she wants.

  
Originally published: Date: 18 Apr 2000 06:24:00 GMT

  
 **Title:** All Things Come to Those Who Are Patient  
 **Fandom:** X-Files  
 **Characters:** Mulder/Scully  
 **Rating:** R  
 **Spoilers:** All Things  
 **Notes:** Scully decides to finally go after the life she wants.

  


"What if there was only one choice? And all the other ones were wrong. . . and  
there were signs along the way to pay attention to?"

"Mm, then all the choices would then lead to this very moment. If there were an  
alternative-"

It occurred to me how incredibly exhausted I was, and I closed my eyes for just  
a moment and tried to focus on what Mulder was saying.

"-it says a lot, a lot, a lot-"

He must have had the same idea because his voice got so quiet, I was sure he'd  
fallen asleep. It sounded like a wonderful plan to me. Maybe I would just take  
a short nap, right here beside him, and we could finish this conversation  
later.

***

The sound of rain beating against the window was my first observation, followed  
closely by how very dark it was, wherever I was. I thought hard about what I  
remembered last. Earl Grey and Mulder. Mm, yes, that was it. We had been  
sitting here talking about the choices we had made when he had fallen asleep.

I must have slept longer than I had intended because now Mulder was gone and I  
was wrapped in the Aztec blanket that normally rested on the sofa arm. I had an  
awful pain in my neck, and rolling my head to each side to relieve it only  
reminded me of how much my shoulders hurt.

I stood and stretched, feeling the stiffness leave some of my joints. Turning  
to fold Mulder's blanket, I caught a glimpse of the digital clock on his desk.  
It flashed 3:41am, which illuminated the room in an eerie red candescence.  
Jesus. The last time I had checked my watch it had been 10:16. I grabbed my  
coat and headed for the bathroom, but the shadows playing in Mulder's open room  
caught my attention. Distantly, I heard the dripping of the bathroom faucet as  
I watched the shadow-trees wave their limbs across Mulder's sleeping body.

The drops of water connecting with the sink make a familiar phlump sound and I  
recognized it as the ticking of time passing. . . the beating of my heart. It  
seemed I had heard the sound more often recently, a steady rhythm pounding  
against a barrier, and every time it made me stop and listen, but time never  
stopped.

Too often in the past few days I'd wanted to slow everything down, stop it and  
examine it, make sure I was on the right path, prove I was in control.

But the world kept spinning without me.

Daniel, I thought, was merely a test. An escape route, if I wanted it, but if I  
had chosen him I would've only fallen into the same mindset I was in now. I did  
not want a different life, exactly, and I had made my own choices, I realized.  
I was still making them every day, and all those decisions brought me to this  
place, at this time.

Here, watching Mulder sleep.

And suddenly, I knew it was meant to be this way. The last forty-eight hours  
had served only to bring me to this impasse, to prepare me for the ultimate of  
decisions. The life I wanted was here, less than twenty feet away from me,  
waiting for me to make the choice.

And I did. I walked over the threshold to Mulder's bedroom, felt the  
significance of the act, and hesitated for only a moment at the foot of his  
bed.

It was a short moment.

I laid my jacket down near Mulder's feet and took a deep breath.

"Mulder," I exhaled. There was no reaction. I sat down on the vacant side of  
the bed and tried again.

"Mulder, wake up."

His breathing hitched and then his eyes opened, and I could see him squinting  
even in the dim light.

"Mulder, it's me."

"Agent Scully, we've got to stop meeting like this." His throat was gravelly  
with sleep, and sexy as hell.

"We need to talk," I told him.

He groaned and turned toward the clock on the night stand.

"Four o'clock in the morning. This is why I never invite you to sleep over on a  
school night."

I patted his arm, once, to reassure him, and because there was no way he could  
see me roll my eyes in this darkness.

"You never invite me to sleep over anytime, Mulder."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously, but it took him a minute to think up a retort.  
Well, that almost never happened, I thought smugly.

"I can never find invitations that don't promise a party first."

I smiled at the attempt, and leaned closer into his personal space. I breathed  
in the breath that escaped his open mouth, and watched as he did the same when  
I exhaled. The thumping of the water dripping was nothing compared to the  
cadence my heart was beating out now.

"You should've just asked," I whispered, right there against his lips. He let  
them touch for a moment, connect for a still second, before he pulled away.

"Would you have said yes, Scully?"

"I'm saying yes now, Mulder."

It pleased me to say this out loud, and it must have satisfied Mulder as well,  
because he was on me then, pulled me down onto the bed and attacked me. He  
kissed me without any pretense of restraint, and I kissed him back, because I  
had made my decision, and now I had to follow through.

Not that this was in any way a hassle.

When Mulder kissed me on New Year's Eve, the heat of that tiny kiss kept me  
awake for hours every night, trembling at the thought of it. It was nothing  
compared to what he was making me feel now.

His hands were caressing sinful locations and I helped him become even more  
unholy by unzipping first my pants and than his. We both sighed when I slipped  
my hand inside and cupped him.

We shed our clothes quickly, and when it was finally just the friction of bare  
skin sliding together, I closed my eyes, and let the sensations of making love  
to Mulder wash over me completely.

***

This time when I opened my eyes dawn was just beginning to peak through the  
blinds, and Mulder and I had spooned against each other in our sleep. I pulled  
away from him as gently as I could and climbed out of bed.

The air was cold, and I searched for my clothes quickly.

I made my way to the bathroom and dressed, so I wouldn't disturb Mulder, and  
because I needed to get home and get ready for work. I stared at myself in the  
mirror, and searched for any signs of difference in my face, now that my life  
had changed so drastically. I supposed there was no physical transformation,  
but inside I felt the weight of the last few days, and knew there was no  
turning back.

The water still dripped incessantly from the faucet, and I had half a mind to  
turn it off, because I no longer needed to be reminded that life was passing me  
by. But instead I went back into the bedroom and as I reached down to pick up  
my coat, which was tangled in the sheets now, I looked one last time at Mulder.  
He was still asleep, and I left him that way, as if I had never been there at  
all. A few days ago the thought of not leaving anything behind, any sign of my  
presence, would have bothered me tremendously. But now I knew where my path led to, I had chosen this way, and no matter what I did now, I would always end up  
in this same place.

Here, with Mulder.


End file.
